Saturday, July 26, 2008

Thanks to blogging, Yvonne and I discovered that we have been following the same path but not together. We were both in a funk. My last post was all about how I forgot about my goals and how when I remembered them everything started falling in to place.

Then a few days ago Yvonne posted about the funk she was in and I commented on her blog saying, "Funny this post somewhat resembles my last blog post… seems we have been on the same funk cycle but we are back!" That comment prompted Yvonne to read my latest post and a big light bulb went off for her.She had also forgotten about her goals. She didn't exactly forget but she had reached all her goals and had not set new ones. So we spent some time yesterday reviewing our old goals and setting new ones. We got to pat ourselves on the back for reaching goals that seemed like "big dreams" a year ago. In Yvonne's process manual workbook, The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Thriving Business there is a section under the goal setting part which says "What dream do you dare to dream for your business?". Every time I review my manual I update that dream and date it. I'm thrilled to say I've actually achieved most of those things that I dared to dream a year ago. (Still waiting for the 2nd house on a beach - but I know that will come soon).

In celebration of Yvonne and I getting our groove back we are offering a special on our book Managing Your Thriving Business for Success. If you enter the code word: productive you will receive $10 off the cost of the book! If you are in a funk or have lost your groove we hope you will join us in getting your groove back and let us know about your light bulb moments.

Friday, July 11, 2008

I forgot about my goals. I am always talking about the importance of writing your goals and reading them everyday and then I went and forgot about mine. Lately, I’ve been in burn out mode, just doing what I had to do to get by. I lost all excitement for my business as you can see by the lack of blog posts in the last few months. I hired a business coach and do you know what she said to me on our last call? She said, “it sounds like maybe you met all your goals, and maybe it is time to make some new goals”. That was a big a-ha, light-bulb kind of moment for me. She was right. I had forgotten about my goals. I’d forgotten to even look at them.

Earlier this week, I was listening to an interview with Barbara Stanny, the author of Secrets of Six Figure Women and I got very inspired. In fact, I plan to buy her book this weekend. She talked about how once you make a decision on what you want and commit to it things will just start falling in to place. While listening to the interview I started writing my goals. Within 5 minutes of the interview ending a client who has been MIA appeared in my email in box wanting to start up work again. Then the next morning I got a new client with exactly the kinds of projects I love doing.

Then today while participating in the VA Revolution’s Process Manual Accountability class led by Yvonne Weld we were reviewing our business goals. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I had met most the BIG business goals I wrote back in May 2007.Just like Barbara Stanny said... things started falling in to place – serendipitously. All these events were a great reminder to me to practice what I preach.

Suggestion: Stop what you are doing right now and write down where you want to be a year from now. Think about what kind of clients you want to work with, how many hours a week you want to work, how much you will be making an hour. Remember to date those goals so next year at this time when you find that sheet of paper you can give yourself a pat on the back!